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When Emily Kerse’s great-grandmother ran away from home in Melbourne, she jumped out a window clutching her sewing machine (which she thought would yield a good livelihood) and headed to New Zealand. With seamstress spunk like that in your ancestral line, how could you not become a fashion designer?
“Mum got me sewing when I was six,” says Emily, now 26 and running her own growing fashion business in Invercargill. “She would draw shapes on to a piece of paper and I’d sew around them to learn how to sew neatly. Then I started making clothes for my Barbie dolls.”
Several ball dresses later, and with a win at the Gore-based Hokonui Fashion Design Awards at only 17 – for a screen-printed denim skirt and funky little top – Emily had to choose between a scholarship in fashion design and a job in the industry. She picked the latter, noting that some of her role models, including Trelise Cooper, had managed to scale the fashion ladder without formal training.
After six months of designing everything from snowboarding gear to school sports uniforms for an Invercargill outdoor clothing firm, Emily was told she was being groomed for the job of head designer. She was only 18 when she took on the lofty role.
“It was really good practical stuff, but after a few years there I was craving more creative freedom and wanted to express my artistic side. So I decided that I would start my own business. I made up a collection and invited 30 people and we had a little fashion show at my house. It just took off from there.”
She’s still proud of her original collection – it was very feminine, with florals and floaty fabrics.
Three months after the launch, a boutique owner stopped her in an Alexandra street and asked where she’d bought her outfit. When Emily revealed her sumptuous attire was all her own work, she won her first stockist. Seven boutiques around New Zealand are now selling her garments and sales are growing through her online shop.
Emily now employs two South Island clothing factories to help with her flourishing business.
“A lot of designers get their garments made in China to boost their bottom lines but being New Zealand-made is really important to me.”
When sales reps visit Invercargill, she loves rifling through suitcases crammed with inspiring European fabrics, but Emily loves New Zealand merino and so do her customers. With a baby due in June, she has been finding new uses for super-soft merino, crafting tiny hats and booties that may soon find their way into her online shop. Maternity wear is also a possibility, as she’s discovered many of her existing garments work well when there’s a baby on the way.
Emily describes her style as “vintage with a modern twist” and her fashion heart yearns for the luxury and elegance of past eras. One of her best-sellers is the Twiggy dress – a versatile gathered dress that can be worn four ways. Its silk version has been snapped up by bridesmaids.
“I love the fashion of the 1920s to the 1960s when women took a lot of care about how they dressed. They embraced their curves rather than hiding them and they had the most gorgeous hairdos and shoes. I collect old women’s journals and magazines from back in the 40s – they’re so cool. And I love hunting through antiques shops. I’m just drawn to everything that’s old-fashioned.
“Sometimes I wish I was a lady of the 50s. I love the way ladies always looked so good. I probably don’t love the idea that they were expected to [look good] by their husbands and always had to have the tea cooked and the slippers ready – I’m not so keen on that side of it!”
Besides, if she’d been born back then, she might have ended up with 10 children hanging off her tailored sleeve and found her sewing savvy diverted into the mending of play-worn clothes, as did her marvellous, runaway great-granny.
See more at emilykerse.co.nz
Story: Claire Finlayson
Photographs: Aaron McLean
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